The controversial method of carbon capture and storage technology, where CO2 is taken from large sources such as fossil fuel plants and stored underground, is the current cause of bitter debate in Australia.
The question of carbon capture and storage (CCS) has split Aust environmental groups. Photo: Coal mine. Credit: clinoclase 1981\'s/Flickr
An alliance of the WWF, the Climate Institute, the Australian Coal Association and the mining union has combined to announce support for the technique and lobby the government to fund the technology. However it is opposed by other Australian environment groups on the grounds that the technology is not proven, unsafe and would take 20-30 years to have any effect on carbon emissions if effective.
They say the money would be better spent on supporting renewable energy.
"Carbon capture and storage (CCS) won't be ready for between 10 and 20 years, if it is proven to work," said Cam Walker for Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA).
"Meanwhile the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that global greenhouse emissions need to peak by 2015 and observed climate impacts are happening faster than predicted. The planet simply cannot afford the time to wait for this unproven technology."
"We need to be putting public money into energy efficiency and already existing renewable energy technology. We have the technology which would allow Australia to embark on a massive energy efficiency program to greatly reduce our emissions, while also creating tens of thousands of new jobs. We don't need public money to be poured into companies who are already making enormous profits, at the expense of the renewable sector," he said.
“Any call for the federal government to focus on carbon capture and storage will distract from the main game – which is energy efficiency and renewables.”
However the Coal Association has rejected the claims saying the technology had proved its worth , warranted government investment and had encountered no safety issues.
"This is a technology that has been demonstrated at a commercial scale already in the oil and gas industry, in enhanced recovery in oil and gas by oil and gas companies, and safety issues have not been encountered," he said.
The FoEA though have likened the coal industry's support of CCS to big tobacco introducing "light" cigarettes to stave off the inevitable, and have called on the coal industry to fund their own research into CCS.
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